


Promise!

by scorpiusastraea



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Bahrain 2020, Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, George and Alex being cute, Happy Ending, M/M, Mention of Romains Accident
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:48:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29105847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scorpiusastraea/pseuds/scorpiusastraea
Summary: After the eventful race in Bahrain, Alex seeks comfort from the person he loves the most.
Relationships: Alexander Albon/George Russell
Kudos: 12





	Promise!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, that´s my first fic and english is not my mother tongue. So please be kind :) and if you find any mistakes just let me know, so that i can improve my writing. Lots of love!

**POV Alex**

Bahrain 2020. I´ve always loved the night races. It was a completely different atmosphere; you could compare it to the floodlight games in football. I couldn't wait for the lights to go out and the race to start. With starting position 4, I had a good chance of finally showing my team what I was capable of. The air was buzzing with tension and with the hustle and bustle that always prevailed on the start and finish straight so shortly before the start. The mechanics of our team jumped around my car, set the last parameters, tightened the last screws.

"2 minutes until lights out."

"Copy."

Two more minutes. I thought briefly of the smiling face of my boyfriend, who had sneaked into my box before I had climbed into my car to wish me good luck, then I folded the visor of my helmet down and focused on the start. Today was my opportunity, I had to deliver a good race!

"15 seconds."

Now it was on. Full concentration, looking at the traffic lights, I took a deep breath. The red lights turned on, my foot was hovering over the gas pedal and the second the lights went off I was standing with my foot full on it. Seeing myself being overtaken by Sergio on the left, I swerved to the right to overtake Valtteri in front of me and then drove wheel to wheel with him into the first corner of the race. Passed him in the second corner. I was happy that I hadn't lost a position at the start, looked in the rearview mirror to check the distance to the one behind me and saw with horror how a car broke out, and seconds later a ball of fire shooting towards the sky.

`What the hell?´, I thought, and almost immediately heard the voice of my race engineer.

"Red Flag, Red Flag. Red Flag."

"Shit! That was a massive one. I've seen it in the mirrors. Who is it?"

"Session has been stopped. Go through the pit lane, do not stop in the box, stay on the lane and keep a 5 meter gap to the car in front. "

"Who is it?"

My mind started to wander. The accident seemed to have happened in the back of the grid. I knew that my boyfriend had started the race from 14th position on the grid and given how tight the first corner was, it was quite possible ... I forbade myself to carry on with that thought, I knew I had to keep calm. Still, it felt like a cold hand was closing around my heart. My race engineer, who did not answer my question and therefore did not help me, did not improve the state of the slight panic. What if he deliberately didn´t answer me? After all, some people on my team knew about my relationship with George. And even if they didn´t knew, at least they knew about the close friendship that connected the both of us. What if it's the young Brit whose car I saw go up in flames in the rearview mirror?

Or perhaps my engineer didn't understand me.

"Who was it?" A few seconds of silence followed as I asked again and I was on the verge of losing my nerve when my mechanic's voice rang out.

“It was Grosjean. He crashed on the exit of turn 3. We've got no information on it yet. Looked pretty big."

The wave of relief that had rolled over me in the first few seconds of the news - that it was Romain whose crash I had watched and not George - quickly gave way to the feeling of a stone in my stomach. No information yet? That was never a good sign.

“Has he got out?”

"Unsure. Not sure yet."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

I had parked my car in the pit lane and now hurried into the garage. Various people from the various teams were running around, it was a complete mess. Maybe by now there was more information about Romain's condition. And I had to text George too. Although my boyfriend was not involved in the accident - as far as I knew - I still wanted to, had to, hear from the younger one himself that he was fine.

Entering the box, Patrick handed me my cell phone and I had already unlocked it and had clicked on George's contact when my eyes lifted and I saw pictures of the accident on the screens of the box in front of me. Sighing, I locked the cell phone again and slipped it into a pocket of my racing suit. George had to wait, now I first had to find out about Romain. The pictures looked bad. If he was still in there, no fireproof racing suit on earth would be able to help him. The freezing cold that still had taken hold of me made me shiver and accelerate my steps again until I was standing next to Christian, who was already talking to Max.

"Is he ok?"

My team boss and my colleague looked up when I stopped next to them and I thought I saw some sort of relief in their eyes.

“He's out of the car. Seems to be shaken to the core and with a few minor injuries. They are taking him to the medical center and get him checked up. But he was able to stand and walk on his own, that's a good sign!"

Relieved, I let the air out of my lungs - I hadn't even realized I was holding it - and felt myself instantly calm down.

"Those are good news. Do we already know how long it will take until the restart?"

“Nothing specific so far, but at least 45 minutes. They have to restore the guardrail and clean the track from the debris. It will take a while. As always, there is a warning 10 minutes beforehand. So rest, have a drink and try not to worry too much. You´re gonna be okay?”

Christian first looked at Max, then at me and finally said goodbye with a nod. A few moments of silence followed, we both hung on to our thoughts until I saw out of the corner of my eye that Max was looking thoughtfully in my direction.

"Did you see what exactly happened?"

I felt the restlessness flare up again, as I thought back to the moment when I saw the flames in my rearview mirror.

“Not how bad it really was, I only just realized through the TV pictures. On the track I only saw the flames, but not who it was."

Max gave me an appraising look and then put a hand on my crossed forearms.

"You thought it was George, didn't you?"

At that thought, I felt the tears welling up that I had so successfully held back until now. Taking a conscious deep breath, I looked at Max and just shrugged my shoulders. What should I say? Of course I was worried about my boyfriend. I knew exactly what kind of dangers we exposed ourselves every time we got into the cars. The uncertainty, however, had been much worse.

God, I felt awful because I had been so selfish at first and had been glad it wasn't George whose accident I had seen.

"Did you already have the opportunity to speak with him?", asked the blond Dutchman and tore me from my thoughts, which were darkening again.

"No, not yet. Romain was more important. I had to know that he was alright."

“Then talk to him now. We still have at least 40 minutes before the race starts again."

"You’re right, I'll call him right away."

“Just go over there for a minute. I am sure that he needs you just as much as you need him. He was even closer to the accident, after all.”

I hadn't thought of that at all until now. I swallowed.

"I would love to, but I don't think the team would be thrilled if I just disappeared now."

“Just be back in half an hour. Go now, I'll have you your back."

"Thanks Max."

I turned around, looked briefly in all directions before putting on my cap and taking the path out of the back door in the direction of my boyfriend's motorhome.

**POV George**

A soft knock made me look up from my cell phone, which I had just tried to distract myself with from what had happened. I ran my hands through my dark, messy hair - I had pulled it a few times - before I let the visitor in.

'Who could that be?´

I had been waiting for a message from Alex. After all, the young Thai had driven into the pit lane way ahead of me to park his car. When the door opened and my boyfriend's head pushed through it, I couldn't prevent a smile from creeping up on my lips. I got up quickly and as soon as Alex had closed the door behind him, I opened my arms so that my boyfriend could fall into them.

"What are you doing here? You shouldn´t be here. Like at all."

As if to deny my words, I closed my arms even tighter around the older man, he buried his face in my neck and I breathed in the familiar smell which, after what we just experienced, worked like balm for the soul.

"I was worried about you. I had to stop by in person. Otherwise I would have gone mad by the time the race is over.”

Confused because of my boyfriend's reaction - I didn't understand it at first, it wasn't me who had had the accident after all - I loosened the tight hug to push Alex a bit away from me.

"Why were you worried about me? I wasn't involved in the accident at all."

“Well I didn't know that when I saw the accident in my rearview mirror! I didn't know if it was you or not. And when I asked my race engineer who it was, he didn't answer right away. I have no idea whether he didn't hear me or whether he deliberately didn't do it. I was just scared that it was you and that that was why he didn´t say anything about it!"

My boyfriend's brown eyes slowly filled with tears and I sighed briefly before pulling him into another hug.

“Sorry, my love. I am fine. I saw the crash in front of me and I'm still pretty shocked to be honest, but otherwise everything is fine. We should think of Romain now, that he survived this is really a miracle. Now we have to hope that he isn´t injured."

I could feel Alex take a deep breath on my shoulder, then he lifted his head and placed a small kiss on my cheek, before snuggling against me again.

"I love you George."

"I love you too. And now hurry back to your team, the guys are probably looking for you already. Prepare for the restart, get that out of your head now. We can talk about it later. Show the world what you can do!"

"Thank you Georgie."

Alex pulled away from me, pressed a quick kiss on my lips and then left my driver's room with a slight smile.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lying in bed, smiling softly, I ran the fingers of my right hand over my boyfriend´s back while my left hand was holding a book, trying to browse through it as calmly as possible. Alex fell asleep snuggled up to me shortly after I got to his room. The events of the night and the last few weeks in general seemed to have affected him more than he was ready to admit. I was more than pleased that he was able to prove it to everyone tonight and made it onto the podium again. I knew that Alex surely thought that he had only achieved this through good luck. Which was technically correct, and yet I found it difficult to put into words the pride I felt towards my boyfriend.

He began to twitch a little on me and I watched how his nose wrinkled a bit - which was an incredibly sweet sight by the way -, then opened his eyes and looked around a little confused.

"How long did I sleep?", he asked mumbling, pressing his head back into my shirt.

"Not long. Half an hour. And you looked really cute while doing it."

Grinning, I looked at him and watched a delicate red sheen covering his cheeks.

"Stoooop. You KNOW I can't stand it when you say things like that."

"But it's true!" I paused for a moment. "Is everything okay with you? You seem so exhausted."

The young Thai raised his head briefly, then nodded and let himself fall back on me, only to get up a few seconds later and run to his backpack, which was sitting in a corner of the room. I eyed him in confusion and kept that look when Alex sat down next to me on the bed with a small box in his hand.

"What is that?", I asked and gestured questioningly at the box.

"A gift for you. I originally wanted to give it to you for Christmas, but what happened today made me realize that I don't want to wait another month. George, I love you. I love you because you´ve always got my back, because you always make me feel that what I am is good enough. With you I can be real, I don't have to pretend and you still love me. You are always there for me, I would not have survived the last few weeks without you. You are the person I trust the most in this world. Because I know that you are always there for me. You are the best thing that ever happened to me and today when I didn't know if you were okay ... those were the worst moments of my life. I know what we're doing is dangerous and I also know that the two of us will do everything in our power to get home safely, but sometimes that's not enough. I know we're still young and we haven't dated for that long, but at least for me it's clear that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. "

With wide eyes I looked at my boyfriend, who had opened the box and revealed the narrow, silver ring inside. I felt myself gasping for air. Was that about ...

"This is not an engagement ring, don't panic." Alex chuckled when he saw my face. “It's more like a promise ring. Because I promise you here and now that I will always be by your side. Always. And I promise you that I will never leave you alone. And I also promise you that one day - maybe sooner, maybe later - I will marry you. I love you. With all my heart. With every cell in my body. Today and forever."

My heart was pounding, I had the feeling it was going to jump out of my chest. He took my hand, took the ring out of the box, and looked at me questioningly. I did not trust my voice at that moment and only nodded weakly, overwhelmed by the declaration of love as I watched Alex put the ring on my finger. It fitted perfectly, of course it did. When my boyfriend got something on his mind, it usually always turned out perfect.

"Do you like it?"

Alex looked questioningly into my eyes and still completely overwhelmed by the feeling of pure love for him I couldn't answer, again limited my response to a nod and felt the tears welling up in my eyes.

"Have I broken you now or did you just spontaneously forget how to speak?"

I nudged the older man, slightly indignantly, and laughed carefree when he fell from the edge of the bed on which he had just been sitting.

"I'm sorry, my love! But you destroyed the moment”, I laughed.

"I haven't at all!" Alex protested.

“Yes, you did. But it doesn't matter. I love you too, you idiot."

I helped my boyfriend back on the mattress, pulled him close and kissed him with all the love that was within me. Today had left its mark on all of us. All the happier I was to have Alex by my side. And I would never let him doubt it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks @justabigtowngirl for editing! ♡


End file.
